Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Members will know, from my written statement issued earlier today, that the Cabinet met this morning to consider a decision on whether the Welsh Government is able to provide a financial guarantee to the Circuit of Wales project at Ebbw Vale. We’ve been working to support the development of this project for a significant period of time, both in financial terms and the time spent by Welsh Government with those behind the project. I’m confident that the resources we have committed over the past few years are fully justified for such an ambitious project. At the same time, we have always been very clear that any financial guarantees and risks taken by the public sector had to be proportionate and fair.

I will briefly summarise events over the past 12 months for Members’ benefit. In July last year I told the company that I would expect to see at least 50 per cent of the project funded and 50 per cent of the financial risk of the project to be undertaken by the private sector, and for the project as a whole to provide value for money for Welsh Government and the public purse.

In February the developers submitted a new proposal to Welsh Government, which was followed by a formal application in April, requesting a guarantee of a loan facility of £210 million. Extensive and detailed due diligence by external experts employed by Welsh Government has shown that due to the way that the deal is structured, the current proposal would see the Welsh Government exposed to more than 50 per cent of the risk. This is because the £210 million underwriting element would carry a higher risk than other parts of the financial package. As a result, following discussions with Office for National Statistics and Her Majesty’s Treasury during the due diligence process, it is assessed that there is a very significant risk that the full £373 million debt of the entire Circuit of Wales project would be classified against Welsh Government capital spending.

Over the next three years, this would have the same impact on Welsh Government budgets as if we had already spent the money and would place a significant limit on our ability to deliver current and future projects to improve Welsh infrastructure, housing, hospitals or schools. Cabinet, therefore, today decided that the potential impact on the public finances of the current proposal before them was too great and we are therefore unable to offer the financial guarantee requested on this proposal.

I do recognise that many people in Ebbw Vale and across south Wales will be disappointed by our decision, especially as the company has generated some very high expectations of the jobs that would be created. In addition, many people were pinning their hopes on this project to bring wider economic benefits for the south Wales Valleys, particularly the broader Heads of the Valleys. The due diligence made clear that the main benefit to the local economy, and the majority of new jobs, would not be created at the circuit itself, but by separate businesses, particularly in the engineering and automotive sectors, clustering in the location as part of a proposed technology park to follow at a later date. In total, both the circuit and the technology park, according to due diligence, would likely fall substantially short of the 6,000 jobs figure. Based on our previous experience, we also believe the technology park proposal could well require significant additional public funding.

Recognising the economic potential this type of development would bring, and the fact that the people of Blaenau Gwent, and the wider Valleys have waited long enough for the promised jobs, Cabinet this morning agreed to move ahead with a new and significant project. The Welsh Government is committing to building a new automotive technology business park in Ebbw Vale, with funding of £100 million over 10 years, with the potential to support 1,500 new full-time jobs and act as a catalyst for economic growth across the south Wales Valleys. We will begin this stand-alone project with the delivery of 40,000 sq ft of manufacturing space on land currently in public ownership. In addition, we will work with our partners to explore the potential of locating a south Wales metro depot in the Ebbw Vale enterprise zone, and introduce programmes to support new and existing employers in Blaenau Gwent on skills development within the local workforce.